A New Spell
by jaqtkd
Summary: Merlin has had a tough time lately, but the discovery of a new spell in his magic book gives him the chance for a little fun. Who would YOU like him to try his spell out on next? Rating might increase depending on the prompts but no more than T.
1. Chapter 1

**A New Spell**

It was the longest day of the year and Merlin finished all of his chores to find it was still light outside, despite the late hour. The young warlock returned to his bedchamber, threw open the window, cast off his boots and neckerchief, and flopped onto his bed with a huge sigh of relief.

After a moment of relaxation he turned onto his side and flopped over the side of the bed, quickly sliding the loose floorboard to one side, hauling his heavy spell book from its hiding place and opening it to the page he'd been studying the night before. He smiled as he looked at that particular incantation again – committing it to memory just in case it would be useful. He could already think of numerous dangerous situations he'd been in recently where this would have been especially helpful. As Merlin undressed and started to fall asleep, his mind begun to wander as he though of various times that might justify him using such a spell.

When he eventually fell asleep, he had a huge grin on his face.

xoxOxox

Merlin had left the window open last night and so the early morning bird chorus woke him up at dawn, an hour earlier than he really needed to get up at this time of year. He turned over with a groan, wondering whether he dared risk falling asleep again, only to suddenly sit bolt upright as he recalled his previous night's reading.

"Should I? Dare I? What if I got caught?"

But surely, that was the whole point of this spell. He _couldn'_t get caught and, after all of the heartache and stress he'd been under lately, he could really do with a bit of fun.

Suddenly decided, Merlin quickly dressed, went over to the very small square of mirror leaning on the shelf and raised his hand towards it. He squinted at his mottled reflection cast in the poor quality reflective surface, and cast the spell. He saw his gold eyes glow and then, as the colour started to fade, so did the rest of him.

He was invisible.

He'd learnt a serious lesson from his experiment with that ageing spell though and so the young man quickly cast the counter enchantment just to be certain that it really worked. Within a heartbeat his reflection reappeared; his eyes already back to blue by the time he could see them. With a huge grin, Merlin cast the spell once more and vanished.

He opened the door to his room, walked down the few stairs into the main chambers and stood in front of Gaius' longer, higher quality mirror and seeing … nothing - just a reflection of the physician's cluttered room. Turning to his left he saw a small bottle perched on the edge of a wooden bench, picked it up and turned back to the mirror to see it apparently hovering in mid air. Gaius was still snoring in his cot and, as Merlin waved his hand back and forth and watched the vial dance this way and that, it was all the young man could do not to laugh out loud.

This was going to be so much fun.

The castle was quiet at this time of the morning - just a few of the first servants were starting to stir - and so Merlin walked quickly down to the kitchens and opened the door to find the large room very much quieter than when he usually came down here. A sleepy scullery maid was trying to light the main fire for cooking, with little success, whilst all the time she muttered and complained about how hot it was going to be in here when the sun reached its height in a few more hours. The pretty red head stood up and stamped her foot in annoyance, still unable to set the wood alight, and so Merlin walked closer, unseen, and quietly cast another spell, aiming at the hearth. The fire abruptly sprung to life and the girl screamed loudly, causing the few other sleepy servants nearby to come running and ask her what the matter was. The young warlock used this distraction to quickly grab some food for the prince's breakfast, before heading back out to deliver it to it's intended recipient, still grinning broadly.

He wasn't a fool. The corridors were now getting busier and he knew that anyone seeing a plate full of food floating all by itself would soon go running to Uther screaming 'sorcery', and so he quickly cast the counter-spell and walked, visibly, towards Arthur's chambers, only vanishing again as he quietly opened the door.

The prince was fast asleep, as he'd suspected, and so Merlin carefully put the plate of food down on the table, quietly tidied up and set Arthur's cloths and armour out on the table ready for training before slowly opening the curtains and looking back at the Prince's sleeping form.

Arthur winced as the sun hit his face but, other than that, didn't react to the sudden light. Merlin bit his lip as numerous interesting ideas jostled to get his attention. In the end, he opted for simplicity, carefully walking over the bed before shouting.

"Let's be having you, lazy daisy!"

Arthur sat bolt upright in his bed - Shirtless of course - with a priceless glower on his face.

"Merlin, what did I tell you about …?" He looked around the empty room in confusion. "Merlin?" His servant now had both hands over his mouth, in a desperate attempt not to laugh out loud. The look on Arthur's face was priceless. "Merlin? Where are you, you idiot?"

The prince's eyes fell on the full platter on the table, his clothes neatly laid out for him and his expression became even more confused, if that were possible. With a lazy shrug and a huge yawn, Arthur got out of bed and made his way over to the table to eat his breakfast, the strangeness apparently forgotten. Now really struggling not to laugh, Merlin quietly walked to the door and opened it boldly as he walked out, hearing the scape of Arthur chair behind him as the Prince ran to the door, wondering who had opened it.

Merlin made it just as far as one of the alcoves in a deserted corridor, somehow managing to calmly cast the counter-spell, before he collapsed in a heap on the floor, laughing uncontrollably.

xoxOxox

* * *

_**A/N** Hello! Yes, I'm still here. Just hit one of my occasional writing lulls and, despite a long 'to-do' list, haven't felt inspired to write recently, especially as many of the ideas are long, complex and potentially serious/angsty. _

_Anyway, I recently gained 100 followers on Tumblr and wanted to give them a thank-you present so I rummaged through my notes and found this little story. It was inspired by a review of 'The Invisible Servant' ages ago but has just ended up hidden in my 'ideas' folder since then. _

_Since publishing it on Tumblr I debated putting it on here but wasn't sure how to extend it, so I've decided to leave that up to you! _

**What do you want Merlin to do with this new spell next? **

**Who do you want him to play a trick on next?**

_The only rules are (a) He will not be found out (b) He won't suffer any pain or heartbreak during his mini adventures (c) Rating is flexible as I suspect there might be a few cheeky/naughty ideas, but let's keep it T rated or lower. _

_This is because I intend this fic to be comic and light-hearted – a nice break from the more angsty stuff I've written recently and our poor Merlin deserves a little fun after everything he's been through, don't you think? _

_I originally set this between S3 & 4 as there is a reference to his ageing spell from 3.10 but, let's not be too pedantic here, if you want to include a character or situation from S1 or S2, go ahead._

_Give me as much or as little prompting as you like. You could just put a character/situation such as "He wakes Arthur up and enjoys seeing his confusion when he opens his eyes to an empty room,' or you could give me far more detail - even an opening sentence/paragraph. Either way, I promise to credit you._

_8/4/12_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey, Merlin. Fancy going out for a drink tonight?" Gwaine asked as he sauntered into the stables that his friend was currently mucking out.

"No," Merlin replied abruptly.

"Oh, why not?"

"Because I still have loads of work to do here and have to get up at dawn tomorrow." Merlin used the interruptions as an excuse to take a breather, running an arm across his forehead and leaning on the shovel he was using.

"Honestly, you should live a little," Gwaine replied, a broad grin plastered across his face.

"Honestly, you should act like a knight of Camelot!"

Merlin hadn't meant his response to come out quite so harshly, but he'd had a tough day and really wasn't in the mood for Gwaine's antics. He supposed, deep down, he was a even little jealous. It seemed that all his friends had been promoted and had most evenings off, whilst he had the same job and the same, if not more, work than he had before – despite everything he'd done for Arthur during the last few years.

"If I'd realised what a bunch of old women they all were, I might not have been so keen to take Arthur up on his little job offer."

"Sorry, Gwaine, but I just can't find the time and, you know, it really wouldn't do you any harm to get an early night and turn up for training without a hang over for once."

"I'd rather not." Gwaine replied with a sigh. "Never mind, I'll suppose I'll just have to go on my own."

Merlin stared after Gwaine for the longest time as his mind started to work overtime. His friend's regular nightly jaunts to The Rising Sun had not gone unnoticed by the other knights, nor by Arthur who also seemed torn between allowing Gwaine a little freedom and reading him the riot act. After another few moments of contemplative silence, Merlin lowered his broom and set off to look for the only other person he could discuss his latest idea with.

xoxOxox

"Hello, Lancelot."

"Merlin. To what do I owe this pleasure?" The Knight was sitting down on a low stone wall, sharpening his sword with a whetstone.

"Oh nothing much just … well, I wanted to talk to you about … Gwaine and … magic."

"Not two words I'd usually put in the same sentence," Lancelot observed, looking up briefly from his work. "Do continue."

"He's going out drinking _again_ tonight."

"Oh dear."

"So, I was wondering if you'd go with him?"

"Me?" Lancelot looked up abruptly, obviously shocked at the suggestion.

"Yes, you know to ... keep him company?"

"Right ..." Lancelot looked at Merlin suspiciously. "And where does the magic bit come into this?"

"Well, I was trying to think of a way for Gwaine to be dissuaded from drinking every night and taking his new job more seriously and ..." Merlin paused as he noticed Lancelot's gaze drop back down to his sword. Seeing he was briefly distracted, he quickly and quietly muttered the words of his most recently spell.

"And …?" Lancelot prompted, looking up again to find … absolutely nothing in front of him. He jumped abruptly to his feet. "Merlin?"

"Yes, Lancelot?" replied the invisible warlock.

"What …?" Merlin grinned broadly as Lancelot turned this way and that, trying to work out what had happened. Quickly glancing around himself to be certain that no-one was around, Merlin bent down to pick up the sword his friend had discarded on the floor and started to wave it around rather wildly. Lancelot turned back towards him and jumped yet again. "Merlin ..." Lancelot hissed. "Is that you?"

"No, it's the ghost of old King Ambrosius."

"You shouldn't joke about such things. What are you …? How did you …?"

"Yes?"

"Look, Merlin can you … undo that spell? It's not exactly easy to have a conversation with a sword."

"Oh, of course ..." He muttered the words of the spell and, shortly afterwards, Lancelot's wild gaze settled firmly back on his face.

"You really should be more careful about doing that sort of thing in public."

"Yes, yes, I know but, I thought I could do the same to Gwaine tonight."

"Gwaine? I don't see how …?" Merlin just raised his eyebrows and gave Lancelot a long,meaningful glance. The knight stared back, his brow wrinkled in concentration for a moment, until light eventually dawned and he started to grin broadly. "Oh … yes, that could be interesting but, Merlin, you need to be careful. How do you plan to pull this off without anyone else seeing?"

"You're right. It's not only important for my safety, but the joke won't work if anyone else sees what's really happening."

"Right?" Lacelot replied, obviously still not fully understanding.

"So, you go and tell Gwaine you want to go out with him tonight and then sit in a quiet corner where you're out of sight of most of the patrons and leave the rest to me." He grinned broadly but Lancelot shook his head with a sigh.

"Alright, but I really do hope you know what you're doing."

xoxOxox

Merlin waved a cheery goodbye to Gaius that evening saying, quite honestly, that he was going to the tavern with friends. The old man raised the usual eyebrow at such an atypical announcement but made no other comment, now less inclined to nag his ward who, even he had to admit, was far too old to be questioned about what he did in his rare spare time.

Once in a quiet corridor, Merlin moved into one of the numerous alcoves and cast his spell before carefully walking out of the castle and down towards The Rising Sun, where he waited outside for his prey to arrive. It wasn't long before he spotted the pair approaching, Gwaine talking animatedly to Lancelot as they came closer.

"I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised that you offered to come along tonight," said Gwaine.

"Well, you have asked me often enough, I thought it was only polite," Lancelot replied.

"Perhaps but, of all the knights, you were honestly the last one I thought would take me up on the offer. Even Merlin turned me down, you know?"

"Really? Well, he is rather busy at the moment."

"Merlin is _always _busy," Gwaine responded whilst the subject of the conversation slipped in through the doorway behind the pair and nodded vigorously at the last comment. "Not that I believe for a moment that Arthur fully understands just how hard he works or realises that he's not nearly as useless as he likes to make out." Lancelot looked as stunned as Merlin felt at having someone like Gwaine make such an observant comment.

"I think that if Arthur truly believed Merlin was useless he would have replaced him years ago," Lancelot responded carefully.

"Well, that's true, but I still get the feeling that our lanky young friend isn't quite the open book he likes to make out, don't you?"

"I-I'm not really sure what you mean."

"Hmm ... well, you'd better get the drinks in," Gwaine continued, handing Lancelot some coins, "I think last week's incident with the stray goat and the pickled eggs might have prejudiced this particular barman against me. Best I keep my head down tonight."

"Ah ...?" Lancelot obviously didn't know how to respond to that comment, whilst Merlin found himself quite desperate to ask for more details of the story. "It's a bit noisy in here tonight, Gwaine, why don't we sit in that corner over there?" Lancelot said instead.

"Really? Only there's some friends of mine here that ..."

"I'm not really that used to nights out in the tavern," Lancelot continued before making his way to the bar, "I'd rather sit somwhere quieter."

So Gwaine walked over to the table he'd indicated and waited for the drinks to arrive, and Merlin stood quietly to one side until Lancelot came back, before gently wriggling onto a spare bit of bench and letting Gwaine take several generous sips before putting his plan into action.

xoxOxox

In order to make things easier for Lancelot, the first bit of magic Merlin performed was as invisible as he was, subtly allowing one tankard to empty quicker than usual and the other to drain much slower. Checking that no-one else was paying the two knights any attention, Merlin then decided to start gently, moving Gwaine's tankard very slightly just as he made a grab for it. Even Lancelot didn't see this, and Gwaine simply blinked a couple of times before trying again. This time Merlin let him get a hold of it but not before he filled the whole mug right up to the top when it had been almost empty before. Gwaine blinked again and looked at the liquid.

"Did you just top my drink up?" he asked Lancelot.

"Me? No. You were talking and looking at me the whole time." Lancelot's lips twitched slightly as he started to guess what was going on and, after that Merlin was rather less subtle, sliding the drink more obviously out of Gwaine's reach twice more.

"Did you see that? It moved?"

"What did?"

"My drink … it just slid across the table."

"How much have you had, Gwaine?"

"Not that much, not really … I mean ..." Gwaine frowned and shook his head again, as if realising that he felt a little more intoxicated than usual. "There, it did it again, you must have seen it … you were looked straight at it?"

"S-sorry, no. It's sitting right there ... just where you left it."

Next, Merlin quietly got up from his bench, walked slowly and quietly behind Gwaine, and then gently tapped him on the shoulder. The knight turned casually and then went wide eyed when he realised there was no-one there. When Merlin tapped the other shoulder he jumped up boldly, causing the bench to fall over against Merlin's shins. The young man muffled a yelp and rubbed his sore leg whilst Gwaine looked around for the strange sound as he started to right the bench. With a scowl and a flash of golden eyes, Merlin pushed, forcing the bench and Gwaine to fall forwards far too quickly and end up in an undignified pile on the floor. He gave a nod of satisfaction at getting his own back.

"Are you alright?" Lancelot asked.

"There's something very funny going on here," Gwaine complained rubbing a sore elbow.

"I think perhaps you've had enough for tonight, don't you?" Lancelot said.

"I can't be seen to be leaving right now. Not this early in the evening. I'll never live it down."

"Perhaps, but Arthur has asked us to be there especially early for training tomorrow."

"We'll be fine. I think I'll risk the barkeeps wrath and go and get the next round myself."

"Where are you, Merlin?" Lancelot whispered once the other knight had moved out of hearing range.

"Here. I'm going to have such a bruise on my leg tomorrow, that bench was heavy."

"Have you been emptying my tankard."

"Yes, I hope you don't mind."

"No, it's a good idea, but you definitely owe me at least one free drink next time we're out," he replied with a small grin.

"It's a deal. Right, he's coming back, let's have one more go at convincing him it's time to go home."

Merlin continued to slide Gwaine's drink around and even had it floating in the air in front of him, whilst Lancelot's gaze remaining firmly fixed on the table in front and swearing the mug was stationary. To prove the point, he reached out for the space where Gwaine had last left it, only to have Merlin quickly move it into his hand as if he had never been anywhere else. Merlin had to admit he was impressed at just how good Lancelot was at keeping a straight face during all of this. He was currently grinning like an idiot and really, really struggling not to laugh out loud at the look of total disbelief on Gwaine's face at each new incident.

After the shoulder tapping, Merlin progressed to pulling at Gwaine's hair, blowing on his face and even make his tankard disappear whenever the knight turned around to try and find what was behind him. Just a few more drinks, and a few extra additions to his glass and it wasn't long before even Gwaine had to admit that he was obviously much more drunk then he'd realised and that it was perhaps time to go.

The pair left the tavern shortly afterwards, Lancelot offering a little support and encouragement to the bemused knight, whilst Merlin, leaning against the blacksmith's shop, was now visibly in Lancelot's eyeline and gave his friend an encouraging wave.

That had been a great deal of fun. Now ... who could he try his new spell out on next?

xoxOxox

* * *

**A/N **_Thanks for your reviews, suggestions and patience on this one. I was away on holiday last week and am now back at work which has been taking up a lot of my focus again. I really have been drifting for far too long and so I've now written a detailed weekly planner and mapped out my writing/practising/housework/exercise and work times and it already seems to be paying off. _

_There were lots of ideas after the last chapter and I took little bits here and there rather than grabbing one wholeheartedly. So, thanks to Gusto Gismondi for 'tapping people on the shoulder', and both __Aurora89, Kat Shadow __& Chayiana for the various 'drunk Gwaine' ideas. Plus Merlinismylife for suggesting including Lancelot. To me, this idea worked much better if there was someone else there denying it. _

_I'm still not going to be too rigid with the time this is set in but, so far, most of the ideas I've had and other people have suggested, seem to place this somewhere in-between S3 & S4._

_I already have a sketched plan for the next chapter, although any new ideas I receive in the meantime might change it. If I stick to this new timetable, I should have time to keep up weekly updates on this one, and continue to plan and write my next big fic, 'Born Of The Dragon' which I've also been playing with recently. Check out my PP if you want more up to date info on my progress.  
_

_18/4/12_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was odd really, Merlin mused. All the times he'd been forced to go out hunting with Arthur, when it was the very last thing he wanted to do and now, when the prince said he was happy to go out with just his Round Table knights, Merlin felt strangely offended.

Despite their unusual relationship, Merlin still considered Arthur to be his friend, even if he wasn't entirely certain that the prince felt the same way. And now, here were these knights, friends to both of them in many ways, but really far more like Arthur in personality than he was and he felt ... what? Jealous? Surely not. That would just be silly.

Although, in this case, his personal feelings on the matter were irrelevant. There were no knights that Merlin would trust with the Prince's safety more than Leon, Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival and Elyan but, despite this, they didn't have his particular skills and Merlin honestly couldn't let Arthur go out of the castle grounds without him at a time like this, not with Morgana and goodness knows how many other people holding a grudge against Camelot.

The problem was that there was no way he could explain any of this to Arthur. He couldn't really say that he _had_ to come with him to ensure his safety because five of Camelot's finest knights were not able to protect him as well Merlin could.

The young warlock was actually quite embarrassed at how long it took him to come up with the solution. It wasn't as if he hadn't been thinking of that new spell every day since the Gwaine incident and wondering what he could do with it next.

So, managing to convince Gaius that Arthur had a task for him to perform whilst he was hunting, and agreeing with Arthur that the physician could really do with his help and he'd stay behind, Merlin collected a few supplies of his own, put them in a satchel and then proceeded to make the bag invisible so he could carry it without it being noticed.

Of course, the other problem was that all the knights would be mounted and he'd have to follow behind on foot. There was no way he could keep up that way and he wasn't sure he could think of any magic spells that might help to make him faster. A few tracking ones perhaps, but it was no good insisting that this was all for the Prince's safety if he was hours behind him for most of the day.

So, Merlin went the the stables early in the morning as usual, repeatedly informing the stable boys that he was getting the Prince's horse ready for his day of hunting, but that he was now going out on his own to collect supplies for Gaius. Then he lead his own horse out of the stable with several more loud and cheerful farewells, before taking the animal to a quiet spot near the main road out of Camelot and preparing to cast the invisibility spell on him and his horse.

Merlin had only just disappeared when he realised that it would probably have been more sensible to have done the spell on the horse first. Hearing his invisible master talk in front of him would probably cause problems but, as he started to approach the animal, he was surprised to see it turn his head slightly towards him. Surprised at the reaction, Merlin moved just a little closer and the horse gave a friendly nicker, unexpectedly bumping up against his shoulder in greeting as he often did.

"How can you see me?" Merlin asked, waving a hand in front of the horse's face. The chestnut shook his head and turned away, as if annoyed by the movement and Merlin paused, fascinated. Did this spell not work on animals? Or was the horse's sense of smell and hearing so good that he didn't really notice? Not able to find an answer, Merlin said the words of the spell again and the horse also vanished.

It was only then that Merlin thought he might have the answer. He couldn't see the chestnut but he knew exactly where it was. He had no idea how to explain it properly, it was just a type of sense, a type of knowing. People often said that animals had a sixth sense and whether or not that had anything to do with magic or not, Merlin felt that was now what he'd acquired to. He didn't fully understand what was happening but he was grateful for it; he had no idea how it would feel to try and find and ride a horse if he really couldn't sense him at all.

Although it seemed that his invisible companion still had far better senses than his master, because he was aware of the horse's reaction to the knights' approach long before he could see or hear them himself. With nothing more than a gentle squeeze of his legs, Merlin urged the beast forwards, now totally lost in thought as he tried to work out how the horse was sensing everything around him and if there was any way he could tap into those abilities and use them to his own advantage in the future.

xoxOxox

"You have no idea how odd it is to see you without Merlin." Gwaine's voice interrupted the warlock's inner musing about extra animal senses and magical senses. "It's rather like seeing you walking around with an arm or a leg."

"Don't be ridiculous," Arthur countered.

"I'm surprised that Merlin didn't object to being left behind," Lancelot continued.

"Well, when I first told him he seemed quite upset about it," Arthur answered, "But suddenly, last night, he appeared to change his mind and said that Gaius needed his help anyway." Merlin had moved a little closer and saw Lancelot frown at the comment, and he wasn't the only one to seem surprised that Arthur's servant had changed his mind so easily.

"That doesn't sound much like our Merlin," Gwaine said.

"Perhaps, but I don't think he really minded not coming with us. You know he doesn't really enjoy hunting," Arthur replied.

That's when Merlin saw Lancelot's expression change as his eyes widened and he started to look around wildly. The warlock grinned at the reaction, amused that Lancelot was 'looking' for him when he'd already guessed exactly why he was pretending not to come along. It seemed as if it was now time to start having a bit of fun.

Up until now, Merlin had been riding some distance away but this latest curiosity had made him move closer and, unsurprisingly, no matter how quiet he thought he was being, the other horses were no more fooled than his had been earlier. Lancelot's started first, suddenly becoming a little agitated and then, as Merlin deliberately pushed his horse a little too close to the grey, the animal moved over abruptly, giving himself a bit more space. Lancelot leant down to calm him, not quite realising what was happening despite his earlier guess, whilst Merlin continued with this new game for a while; deliberately moving his horse too close to the others and making the animals over-react.

"What's wrong with the horses?" Elyan asked as his suddenly skipped away quite forcefully.

"Perhaps they're sensing some danger?" Leon guessed.

"They don't seem worried, just … a bit jumpy." Arthur observed as Merlin drew his horse right up to Prince's and then moved even closer. These two animals knew each other well and, now he was over the initial surprise, Arthur's horse didn't react much, simply shaking his head slightly and uttering a gentle nicker in greeting. Merlin's horse, pleased to 'see' his friend, replied … loudly.

"What was that?" Arthur said, jumping and turning toward the sound.

"What?" The other knights were too far away.

"A sound, right there … like a ..." He shook his head. "No, it couldn't have been."

"Where?" Elyan asked.

Starting to get into it, Merlin made his horse move a bit faster, urging him forwards, then backwards, and then making him turn quickly on the forest floor, causing old leaves to crackle and twigs to snap.

That did it. The young men all jumped from their horses, swords already drawn before their feet had touched the ground. All except Lancelot who seemed to be covering a smile with his hand. He dismounted with a lot less urgency and the others were all too confused to notice the delay in his reaction.

Not wanting to take a chance on loosing his invisible horse, Merlin moved towards a tree to quickly tie it up, before moving back noisily towards the knights on foot.

"There ..." Leon called pointing to where Merlin had trodden a few moments before.

"No, over here," Percival disagreed, turning quickly to face in the opposite direction.

"Here," said Gwaine.

"Aahh!" Elyan called out, snapping his head around quickly. "It touched me."

"It?" Arthur asked nervously.

"I felt it tap my shoulder."

"Not more ghosts," Gwaine muttered.

"Ghosts?"

"Oh, it was just … the other night, at the tavern," he started to explain as the other knights gave him a sceptical look.

"There was nothing there, Gwaine, I told you." Lancelot insisted.

"So you say, but I wasn't that drunk – I know I wasn't."

"Did I just hear …?" Elyan paused. "I heard something."

"What?"

"Like a quiet laugh." Merlin had been trying his best, but the looks on their faces! It was just too hard not to react.

"Mischievous woodland spirits, perhaps?" Lancelot, quite unable to keep the amusement from his voice. "I wonder if Gaius knows anything about such things?"

"Don't be daft," Arthur retorted. The knights had now gathered themselves into a protective circle, backs together and swords pointing outwards as Merlin tried to think about what he could do next.

With a flash of his invisible eyes, he caused a gentle breeze to blow up, lifting the dried leaves from the floor and whirling around the knights in a circle. As they huddled closer together fearfully, he moved right next to Arthur and raised a hand to stroke his blond hair as if fussing a dog. The Prince uttered a sound which closely resembled a squeak and then, disguising his voice as much as he could, Merlin leaned towards Arthur's ear, making sure he created as much air as he could.

"It's the Once and Future King ..." he whispered in a breathy voice full of awe and tried not to laugh as he saw the prince give a huge shudder and pull away, huddling even closer to the other knights. Then Merlin got back on his horse and gently rode him towards the others who were now grazing by a patch of grass. With a little push of magic for good luck, he made the animals start to move, all starting to walk off in different directions.

"Hey!" Leon suddenly realised what was happening and Lancelot was the first to run for his grey whilst Merlin pulled further away to watch the show; Arthur and all his knights, desperately running to catch their horses, whilst he put enough distance between himself and the hunting party to be sure he caused no further disruption.

For another hour or so, anyway.

xoxOxox

* * *

_**A/N **Mostly thanks to WritingReadingLaughing for this chapter's prompt, although others gave me a few ideas as I was writing too.**  
**_

_So, just as I planned this fic as a bit of light relief before back into serious writing, I suddenly found my muse and have been getting seriously engrossed in my new major fic. So much so that I've already published the first chapter. It's called 'Born Of The Dragon,' if you haven't discovered it already, and the second chapter will be out in the next day or two._

_So, this is likely to become a casual fic for now - which I suppose is fine as there's no urgent plot or cliff hangers. I have a couple more ideas thanks to your prompts but, again, if you have any more thoughts, do let me know. It is nice to write these individual one-off chapters without having to seriously worry about continuity, future plot or back stories as I do in BOTD.  
_

_'Merlin's Gift' is also on hold until I receive a missing title for my one pending chapter, or receive any brand new translations.  
_

_26/4/12  
_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I'm to attend a meeting with my father," Arthur announced, walking past Merlin the instant his servant had entered his personal chambers.

"Oh, alright. Will we be very long, only ..?"

"No, just me today, he said," the prince explained.

"Really? Why? Is he going to have his own servant to serve the drinks?"

Arthur smirked at him. "Jealous, Merlin?"

"No, just curious. You usually want me there with you," his servant replied.

"Not today. Father's received some new evidence of magic users in the lower town and wants to make sure our meeting in truly private for once."

"Oh, I see." That didn't sound good at all. Merlin really needed to find out what was going on. "But, you can trust _me_, Arthur. You know that."

"_I_ do yes, but ..." The prince didn't need to finish the sentence for Merlin to understand what he was saying.

" … your father doesn't," he finished with a sigh.

"I wouldn't take it personally. He doesn't really trust anyone at the moment."

"I understand. I'll just get on with the rest of my chores then, shall I?"

"Yes, and perhaps this might actually give you the opportunity to do them properly, for once," Arthur said with a smirk.

"Prat."

"Merlin! When will you learn that you just can't speak to me like that?"

That was it. There was no way he was going to miss something _that_ important and so, as soon as Arthur had disappeared out of the door, Merlin whispered the words of his new spell and quickly turned invisible.

~o~0~o~

As it turned out, the meeting really didn't spend that much time on the subject of magic. A few people suspected of casting enchantments were mentioned at the beginning, and Merlin made a mental note to leave some sort of warning for them so they would have enough time to either hide any incriminating evidence or get out of town, but, after that, Uther and Arthur simply discussed all the other meetings that had happened between the king and his council and the prince and his knights. It appeared that the king was subtly preparing Arthur for his future role as king by quizzing his son about various issues, and Merlin grinned as he noted how evasive many of Arthur's answers actually were. It seemed that the young man didn't fully approve of everything Uther was doing, but still had far too much respect for his father to either openly oppose him or tell any outright lies.

It said something about just how bored Merlin was that he risked casting such a trivial spell right in front of the king himself but, honestly, he was sure he would go quite mad if he didn't liven things up a little. He focused on Arthur's shirt and his eyes glowed gold.

What was especially annoying was just how long Uther continued droning on before he finally noticed.

"Arthur? Wasn't your shirt a darker shade when you first came in?"

"Ah, sorry …?" The prince plucked at the front of the material and frowned. "I hadn't noticed. I expect Merlin left it to soak too long. It does look a bit … pink, I have to admit." Only Merlin's strong attachment to his head prevented him from laughing out loud at that point.

"Yes, but it was dark red before," Uther insisted.

"Ah, are you sure?"

"Arthur, surely you remember what colour shirt you put on this morning?"

Merlin muffled another giggle at the look of confusion on the prince's face. Of course Arthur didn't remember what he'd been wearing. Honestly he had never met anyone who was quite so unobservant as his young employer.

Not that he was complaining about that, obviously. He could have dressed the prince in anything this morning and it wouldn't have made any difference.

Merlin grinned broadly. Now, _there_ was an idea.

~o~0~o~

The meeting eventually came to an end and the invisible warlock followed the prince out of the chambers, deep in thought about how he could now find the time to warn the couple of villagers that had been mentioned in the meeting, whilst also ensuring that all his tasks had been completed to his master's satisfaction.

"Right," Arthur muttered under his breath. "Now, where is that idiot manservant of mine?"

Merlin glared at the prince for the insult before focusing, his eyes again turning gold. However, one look at the result of his little spell improved his mood so quickly that he had to dive into an alcove to stop the laughing fit that was threatening, and therefore completely forgot that the prince was still actively looking for someone to run an errand for him.

"You there. I want you to go and find Merlin," Arthur asked of a young male servant. The boy looked the Prince up and down – wide eyed. "Ah … Sire … I think perhaps you might have ..."

"Merlin," Arthur repeated. "You know who I'm talking about?"

"Y-yes, Sire but … ah … you're ..."

"You may well think that your work is the most important thing right now but I am the prince of Camelot and can't be seen to be chasing after my own servant."

"No, Sire. I agree. Not looking like that, certainly." The boy scurried off with a smirk whilst Merlin sunk to the floor, both hands over his mouth and his face bright pink in an effort not to laugh out loud.

Arthur frowned at the retreating figure of the young boy before suddenly becoming suspicious and looking down to find that he was wearing a very fetching, bright pink evening gown, complete with low cut neckline and delicately embroidered flowers.

With his face now exactly the same shade as the dress, Arthur lifted up his skirts and ran towards his chambers as fast as his high heels would allow him. By the time he'd closed the door the prince found himself back in his usual brown trousers and dark red shirt.

"Sire?" his servant asked innocently, suddenly appearing from the other half of the room

"I … I'm going to have a lie down, Merlin."

"Arthur? Are you alright?"

"Yes … of course, fine," the prince stuttered. "Just … I think perhaps I may have been working a bit too hard."

"Of course, Sire. I'll leave you to your rest then," Merlin replied with an uncharacteristically gracious bow, before leaving the room and finally letting go of his emotions; his infectious laugh echoing loudly around Camelot's high ceilinged corridors.

~o~0~o~

* * *

_**A/N:** Sorry it's been a while but I've not had that many prompts for this fic recently and haven't been able to find much inspiration myself. This one is the last that I have from your original reviews/requests and I'd like to thank _White Camel_ and _Chayiana_ for requesting Uther, _ReadingWritingLaughing_ for 'Changing Arthur's clothes into a dress during a council meeting' and _nini03_ for 'arthur's clothes are changing in front of his father'._

_I know there are a couple of ideas I've not included yet but I have to admit that none are really clicking for me at the moment. Any more prompts - or more details of what you have given already would be gratefully received._

_30/10/12_


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